BlackBerry forum: Can a Blackberry be used without data plan?

Hi all,I am trying to find a way to buy a blackberry (or any other smartphone) without the annoying data plan. Is their anyway around this, e.g. Craigslist,eBay,ect.?Any answers or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Nothing strange ,,,I use WiFi to download stuff,,,I have smartphone (Nokia N97 mini) and it works without date plan, my Q is are there some phones made not to work w/o data plan or companies just try to make us buy more services from them. Am thinking get unlocked BB storm 2 for my DH (we have Tmobile) but all notifications that it may not work wo data plane got me confused,,,so if someone could answer original question it would be great!

There is no clear answer because as ATT and others change the rules then any answer given today may be wrong tomorrow. For example, some found they could pop the ATT sim into said units and later get a nasty automatic upgrade to the plan.

I work for a telecom provider in Canada and do the support for these devices. Blackberry devices do not need any type of data plan in order to work. Most modern phones are designed to have two capabilities: data and voice - so they are always split into two separate functions. For Blackberry devices you can launch the "Manage Connections" icon, select "Mobile Network Options" and turn the data feature on or off. The "mobile network" check box is what turns the phone's radio on/off. The radio is used to establish communication with your wireless carrier.

As far as what plans your carrier has, I have no idea but the phones themselves don't need a data plan to work.

One other thing... very often with voice plans you will get a slow pay-per use data access for older web pages (called WAP pages). There is a pay-per use charge (usually per kilobyte) however most carriers let you browse their home portal page for free since it links to pay products. You can turn the data feature of the phone off in the options i mentioned above to disable this. Turning this feature off still keeps your wifi working by the way.

One last point... Blackberry.com lets you download apps to your computer and install them over a USB cable to your device. So you can do full upgrades and app installations from Blackberry App World Online. So you don't need a data plan if you want to add apps to the phone.

Yup! Any of those above should work. It really depends on which carrier you are with. I know the ones in Canada don't care if you use a Blackberry without data as long as you didn't buy it from a contract price with them

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